DATING LINKED TO TEENS' HIGHER RISK OF DRUG USENew study finds those with friends who have sex are more likely to try substance abuse

Autor: Courtney C. Radsch

Fuente: New York Times

WASHINGTON
-
The
words
of
an
old
proverb
—
"Tell
me
who
you
walk
with,
and
I'll
tell
you
who
you
are"
—
gained
new
meaning
on
Thursday
with
the
release
of
a
national
study
showing
that
teenagers
whose
friends
were
sexually
active
were
more
likely
to
smoke,
drink
or
use
illegal
drugs.

Teenagers
who
reported
that
at
least
half
of
their
friends
were
sexually
active
were
31
times
likelier
to
get
drunk,
5
1/2
times
likelier
to
smoke
and
22
1/2
times
likelier
to
have
tried
marijuana,
according
to
the
study,
released
by
the
National
Center
on
Addiction
and
Substance
Abuse
at
Columbia
University.

'Message
for
parents'"It's
a
clear
message
for
parents,"
said
Joseph
Califano,
the
center's
chairman
and
president.
"The
thunder
of
teen
sexual
activity
and
dating
behavior
may
signal
the
lightning
of
substance
abuse."

Califano
was
careful
to
point
out
that
the
results
did
not
indicate
that
sexual
activity
caused
substance
abuse
or
vice
versa,
but
rather
indicated
an
increased
risk.
He
said
that
14.1
million
Americans
ages
12
to
17
were
at
medium
or
high
risk
of
substance
abuse,
and
that
the
risk
was
"tightly
connected"
with
sexual
behavior
and
dating.
For
example,
as
the
amount
of
time
spent
with
a
boyfriend
or
girlfriend
increases,
so
does
the
risk
of
substance
abuse.
A
teenager
who
spends
25
or
more
hours
a
week
with
a
boyfriend
or
girlfriend
is
five
times
likelier
to
get
drunk
and
4
1/2
times
likelier
to
use
marijuana
than
a
counterpart
who
spends
less
than
10
hours
with
a
significant
other,
the
survey
found.

Thirty-one
percent
of
the
teenagers
surveyed
said
they
had
a
boyfriend
or
girlfriend,
which
increased
their
average
risk.
The
study
also
found
that
girls
who
dated
boys
who
were
at
least
two
years
older
were
more
than
twice
as
likely
to
drink,
4
1/2
times
as
likely
to
smoke
and
six
times
likelier
to
get
drunk
or
to
try
marijuana.

The
survey
showed
that
11.5
million
teenagers
had
friends
who
regularly
viewed
Internet
pornography
and
downloaded
it,
and
that
a
teenager
with
a
majority
of
friends
who
did
so
was
"three
times
more
likely
to
smoke,
drink
or
use
illegal
drugs
than
a
teen
who
has
no
such
friends."

'Parental
denial'The
study,
the
ninth
National
Survey
of
American
Attitudes
on
Substance
Abuse,
asked
about
the
attitudes
of
a
teenager's
friends,
as
a
surrogate
for
the
teenager's
own
behavior,
said
Steve
Wagner,
president
of
QEV
Analytics,
the
company
that
conducted
the
survey.
"Teens
that
tell
you
more
than
half
their
friends
smoke
marijuana
are
much
more
likely
to
have
tried
it
themselves,"
Wagner
said
in
an
interview.

At
a
news
conference,
Califano
said
one
finding
that
had
stayed
consistent
since
the
first
study,
in
1995,
was
the
"tremendous
parental
denial"
about
teenagers
and
drug
use.

The
survey
found
that
although
drugs
continued
to
be
the
biggest
concern
of
teenagers,
only
12
percent
of
parents
saw
drugs
as
their
teenager's
top
concern.
But
parents
saw
drugs
and
alcohol
as
the
most
important
problem
facing
them,
as
parents,
with
a
majority
saying
they
believed
it
was
unrealistic
to
expect
that
a
teenager
would
never
try
an
illegal
drug,
and
most
perceived
a
correlation
between
drug
and
alcohol
use
and
sexual
activity.

The
survey
interviewed
1,000
teenagers
and
500
of
their
parents
at
random
by
telephone.

The
teenagers'
survey
had
a
margin
of
sampling
error
of
plus
or
minus
3
percentage
points;
the
margin
for
the
parental
survey
was
plus
or
minus
4
percentage
points.